“Speak your truth quietly and clearly” – Desiderata, Max Ehrmann
Part 4 – What Next…?
So what does all this mean?
- Is there a reason behind the differences in the way we respond to situations or do we do it just to irritate each other?
- Is there a way for us to understand our preferred responses and adjust them if our natural first response hurts us?
- How can we understand, appreciate and capitalize on our differences instead of allowing them to obstruct our progress?
Quite like the hand we prefer to use for writing, we are all born with certain innate preferences for interacting with the world, processing information, making decisions and implementing our ideas. These preferences influence the situations in which we feel natural, relaxed and confident, and those in which we feel uncomfortable, awkward and strained. For most of us, life is a journey in which we continuously learn and improve ourselves – mastering the skills for which we have a natural talent and increasing out comfort level in other areas where we may not be as gifted.
Whether you are an individual who would like to understand yourself or you are a leader who would like to use differences in type to improve the effectiveness of your team, you can use the Myers Briggs Type Indicatorto guide you on your journey. The MBTI assessment helps by shining a light on our blind spots and providing practical techniques to overcome them. For over 50 years, the MBTI has helped understand individual differences and applying that understanding to the ways people think, communicate, and interact. It is the world’s most widely used personality assessment – with more than 2 million assessments being sold each year.
The MBTI measures personality preferences on four different scales-
- Orientation of Energy:Where we focus our energies and what energizes us…
- Extraversion (E) – Those who are oriented primarily towards the outer world, focusing on people, objects and activities. They receive energy from interacting with people and from taking action.
- Intraversion (I) – Those who are oriented towards the inner world of concepts, thoughts and memories. They receive energy from reflection.
- Perception:How we take in information…
- Sensing (S) – Those who rely on observable facts or happenings, taking in information that is real and tangible. They observe specifics and are tuned in to practical realities.
- Intuition (N) – Those who rely on intuition – meanings, relationships and possibilities. They see the big picture, focus on relationships and connections and are look out for new possibilities
- Judgment:How we reach conclusions…
- Thinking (T) – Those who decide primarily through thinking, on the basis of logical conclusions. They examine the pros and cons and try to find a standard or principal that will apply in all similar situations
- Feeling (F) – Those who decide primarily based on feelings and personal or social values. Their goal is to create harmony and treat each person as an honorable, unique individual
- Style of Dealing with the outer world:How we interact with the outer world…
- Judging (J) – Those who prefer to live in a planned, orderly way – making decisions, coming to closure, and moving on. They like sticking to a plan and are energized by getting things done.
- Perceiving (P) – Those who like to live in a flexible, spontaneous way – staying open to new information and last minute options. They like to use resourcefulness in adapting to the needs of the moment.
The result of the MBTI assessment gives you a four letter code that has one letter from each pair in the rows below:
- E or I
- S or N
- T or F
- J or P
Based on different combinations of these 4 pairs, there can be 16 unique personality types.
One of the most important principles behind the MBTI is the belief that no one type is better than the other – each type has its own unique gifts. The beauty of type is that understanding and appreciating these gifts helps make a team greater than the sum of it’s parts. Also, having a particular type does not in any way, prevent us from “flexing” and developing the gifts of other types. In fact, type awareness assists us in our life long journey of development by shining a light on our less preferred areas, so that we can consciously develop them and get better results in life.
Base on the descriptions of Estelle and Indy, one could guess that their four letter personality codes might be-
- ESTelle Jones – ESTJ
- INdy F Potter – INFP
Now pull out the four letter type you had jotted down while reading Part 3 of the blog and compare your self-assessed type with that of Estelle’s and Indy’s. This might give you a feel for what the MBTI tries to do.
Note that this blog is an extremely over-simplified look at the MBTI. The intent is just to give you a sense of what the MBTI is all about and not to conclusively report your MBTI type. However, once you complete the MBTI assessment and have it interpreted by a certified MBTI practitioner, you will get an accurate and reliable four letter personality type that reflects your preferences.
The MBTI Step I assessment provides a four letter personality type and establishes a foundation for applying type theory in your life. The MBTI Step II assessment builds upon the foundation created by the Step I. The Step II Interpretive Report is personalized to help you understand and apply your MBTI results. It describes your four-letter personality type in detail and displays your Step II facet results graphically. Personalized text explains those results on each of the 20 facets. With help from your interpreter, you can then apply your results to the four important components of professional development:
- Communication
- Decision making
- Conflict management
- Change management
Your report describes your style in these four areas and suggests ways of using that style more effectively.
On completing your MBTI Step II interpretation, you will also become eligible to participate in upcoming Org Whisperers workshops on applying your personality type to various areas of your life such as:
- Leadership
- Team Work
- Selling
- Stress Management
Contact Us today to learn how we can help you meet and exceed your goals!
Contact Us to learn how we can help you today!
Copyright 2010 Org Whisperers
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